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Page 80
Just then there was a knock at the door. The mother hastened to open it,
and found a messenger waiting with a letter in his hand which had
several seals on it. It was addressed to herself, and beside the address
was written, "_Three pounds enclosed._" Having given a small sum to the
messenger for his trouble, the widow broke the seals of the letter with
trembling fingers. The three pounds were duly enclosed, but no letter
accompanied the welcome money.
Overcome with joy, the widow seized Peter, who had crept curiously to
her side, in her arms and exclaimed with delight, "Ah! you shall have a
nice blue dress, after all, my child."
But when the boy asked, "Who has sent us all this money, Mother?" all
she could say was, "I wish I knew, my dear. But you see there is no
letter with it."
Then Peter smiled expressively, but said nothing, for he
thought--"Mother won't believe me, I know. But who can the money have
come from, except from the little Parsnip-man?"
A CHILD'S WISHES.
(_From the German of R. Reinick._)
A certain old knight had a little daughter called Gertrude; and when his
brother died, leaving an only son, he took the boy into his castle, and
treated him as his own son. The boy's name was Walter. The two children
lived together like brother and sister; they only played where they
could play together, and were of one heart and of one soul. But one day,
when Gertrude had gone out alone to pick flowers beyond the castle gate,
some gipsies came along the high-road, who stole the child and took her
away. No one knew what had become of her; the poor old father died of
grief, and Walter wept long days and nights for his Gertrude.
At last there came a warm spring day, when the trees began to bud, and
Walter went out into the wood. There, in a beautiful green spot, a brook
bubbled under the trees, where he had often sat with Gertrude, floating
little boats of nutshells on the stream. He sat down there now, cut
himself a hazel stick for a hobby-horse, and as he did so he said to
himself--
"Ah! if I were but a grown-up knight, as tall and stately as those who
used to come to my uncle's castle, I would ride out into the wide world
and look for Gertrude!"
Meanwhile, he heard something screaming near him, and when he looked up
he saw a raven, which was stuck so fast between two branches of a tree
that it could not move, whilst a snake was gliding towards it to devour
it. Walter hastily seized his stick, beat the snake to death, and set
the raven free.
"A thousand thanks, my dear child!" said the raven, who had flown up
into a tree, from which he spoke--"a thousand thanks! And now, since you
have saved my life, wish for whatever you like, and it shall be granted
immediately. A year hence we will speak of this again."
When Walter heard this, he saw at once that the raven was an enchanted
bird, and exclaimed with joy--
"I should like to be a noble knight with a helmet and a shield, a
charger and a sword!"
All happened just as he wished. In an instant he was a tall, stately
knight; his shield stood near him, and his hobby-horse became a proud
charger, which, to show that it was no ghost, but a real horse of flesh
and blood, began then and there to drink out of the stream.
At first, Walter could not think what had happened to him, but stood as
if he were in a dream. Soon, however, a new life seemed to wake within
him; he swung himself on to his horse with all the energy of youth, and
rode far out into the land to look for little Gertrude.
Like other knights, he met with many adventures on his way. There was
always something to contend with, either wild beasts or else knights,
who, like himself, roved about the country delighting to find any one
with whom they could do battle. On every occasion, however, Walter came
off conqueror, for he was far more valiant than any of his opponents.
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